£200 for fitting and alignment. I know I've been evangelical about the garage and the coilovers, and I reserve the right to change my mind in six months if I find the inner edge of the tyres have been shredded and the ride is so hard I don't have any teeth left and my family refuse to get in the car. But at the moment I am very happy.
There should be a word for the happiness felt when you spend a load of money modding your car and it turns out even better than expected.

 

Do they make wagon specific struts, or use the saloon strut?
Who selected that ride height and the 6/5 spring rate?

 

The meister r struts are the same for wagons and saloon.
I chose the ride height based on the best info i could gather from the forums here, but I believe these can give up to 70mm drop (compared to std) if wanted.
And meister r selected the spring rates.

 

I did the man maths calculations as well and I ended up with coilovers too.

I went for a set of KW Variant 3 V3 coilovers because:
- KW supply a set specifically for each series of newage wagon
- they use the OEM top mounts so no extra outlay was necessary there
- compression, rebound and ride height are all adjustable independently
- my local supplier Indigo GT had a 'free-fitting' offer on
- I couldn't find a bad review of them anywhere

You can basically set them to whatever softness/firmness/steering feel/ride height that you want, within reason.

I've spent around a tankful experimenting and adjusting (very easy with the strut key supplied, a notepad and an old rubber mat) and I was still fine-tuning when the car had to go off to EngineTuner for some repairs and fettling.

I can't wait to get it back.

 

Those KW V3's are a very nice piece of kit! Sadly, my man maths wouldn't cover those...
I've just covered 100 miles in a mixture of B roads, A roads, motorway and rough as hell town roads and am still really enjoying my meister r's.
Only problem is that the car now feels so well planted and stable that I think it could cope with a bit more power...

 

Nice? They're total suspension ****, mate. :

 

Are those progressive rate springs?

 

I'll be doing a full suspension re-fresh this summer, KW V3 were on the short-list, so it will be interesting to get some full feedback - not much around on here.

Meisters are an interesting one as they seem relatively cheap. Such a big/important thing to get right. Ideally need to ride in a wagon with different set ups on . . . anyone near Newcastle?

 

Hi

I'm near Newcastle with 2005 wagon.
Just gone for PCA springs and KYB Ultra-SR shocks and 22mm rear ARB.

(Used Mister-Auto cheapest from ebay but in France) and the shocks were delivered in display box bubble wrapped - with the top shaft sticking through the box and bubble wrap. Not happy chappie)

But your free to have a try anytime you like..

 

Sadly, I'm not well up on the tech side of things, Stuart.

 

Very kind. I've just bitten the bullet and gone for the Meisters. I'll be taking off my KYBs and Eibach springs quite soon.

 

It'd be great if you two could do a side by side test and let the rest of us know what you think.

 

Meisters are bedding in and feel much more compliant and controlled than the KYBs. Interested to get any opinions re ride height settings and so on. I'll get a few hundred miles and then settle on a height in a few weeks.

 

If anyone wants to sell their standard suspension let me know, as I'm after some. Cheers, Ian